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Susan could have faintedwith relief when Lord Seabury rushed back into the ballroom through the terrace doors and hurried over to speak with Georgiana. At first, she was confused by his mention of a note from Edward — a note which had asked him to meet Edward in the library. But Edward wasn’t here.
Then the whole picture snapped into sharp focus in her mind..
Lord Seabury had very narrowly escaped being trapped into marriage. Susan could certainly understand the feeling which such a narrow escape must engender in him, given her own situation... As Lord Seabury continued to speak to Georgiana, trying to puzzle things out, Susan turned to Eugenia, and motioned to the Count D’Asti who was hovering nearby.
“Eugenia, I would like to introduce you to Lord D’Asti.” The Count arrived as Susan spoke, and he bowed to Lady Eugenia. “Lord D’Asti, may I make known to you my best friend, Lady Eugenia Calthorpe.”
Eugenia blushed prettily and curtsied to the Count.
“It is a pleasure to meet you, Lord D’Asti.”
“Believe me, Lady Eugenia, the pleasure is all mine. May I have the next dance?”
Eugenia darted a wide-eyed glance at Susan, as if to make sure it was all right, and Susan gave her an encouraging nod.
“I would like that very much, Lord D’Asti.”
Eugenia offered the Count a shy smile, and the two of them began conversing as Susan turned to regard Lord Seabury, who was still speaking to Georgiana.
Faintly, Susan heard her sister explaining to Lord Seabury that Edward was away in Brighton. Susan watched him pale, saw the exact moment at which he fully comprehended the narrowness of his escape. For some moments, he was entirely still, apart from the tightening of his grip on something he held in his hand. The faint sound of crinkling paper came to her.
Then, the whole world seemed to stop as he turned his gaze to meet hers, his expression soft, uncertain, searching. There were so many things that Susan wanted to tell him, so many things she wanted to say, but she wasn’t sure what to acknowledge and what not to, in light of what she was almost certain had just happened. Everything in Susan’s awareness faded away, save for Lord Seabury.
She wanted to reach out to him, to touch him, to reassure him and herself that nothing had happened, that Lady Henrietta’s attempted trap had failed. But people might talk, and the last thing Susan wanted was to damage his reputation in any way.
Suddenly, much to Susan’s surprise, Lord Seabury extended a hand to her.
“May I have this dance, Miss Wingfield?”
She nodded vigorously, and it took her a moment to recover her powers of speech.
“Of course, Lord Seabury. I’d be delighted.”
As Susan took his hand and allowed him to lead her out onto the dance floor to join the set which was still forming up, she very discretely reached up and gave her own ear a vicious pinch to check and see if she was truly awake or not. Lord Seabury asking her to dance had been so unexpected that she could hardly believe that this wasn’t all a very bizarre dream.
All of the things that she wanted to ask him, and more that she wanted to tell him tumbled to the front of her mind - but now did not feel like the appropriate time, and she was half afraid that she might shatter the spell they both seemed to be under as they danced. So, for the first time in her life, Susan held her tongue.
She focused instead on enjoying the dance with Lord Seabury, on memorising the subtle nuances of his facial expressions, on breathing in the warm, intoxicating scent which seemed to radiate off him in waves. It was woodsy and masculine, and it set Susan’s blood on fire in a most dangerous fashion, but she never wanted the sensation to end.
She wanted, more than anything in the world, to remain suspended in that moment, dancing with Lord Seabury forever.
